Where Are We?

Off on a new adventure.


"Where are we?"


"I don't know. Let me see."


"I think I found a way out!"


"I escaped! Wait... we are still in our living room!"


Yep, we (my mom) got this new monstrosity for the kids. The best thing about it is that it collapses to nothing when I don't want it around anymore. We can take it to the backyard when the weather is nice or set in up inside when we need indoor exercise. There is actually another piece but I didn't even take that out. It takes up the whole playroom of our living room as it is.

New Apron

I haven't made these in a while and recently made one for a birthday boy. I was stuck on what to do with the plain side for a while and I finally found something I liked - applique. What took me so long? Such a simple idea.

Here is the apron front.


The front when the girl is not moving.


The back. The apron is reversible.


I am really really really going to stock my etsy shop this time. Okay, off to make some aprons to put in the shop.

Dance Class

A short clip from dance class.

Another Birthday Party

April is birthday month. We were invited to another 3 year old birthday party. The kiddies had a lot of fun.

As soon as we got there, the boy b-lined to the train table.


Here he is seen trying to fit in with the big boys.


At the end of the party, we went outside with the birthday boy to check out the party favor.


Baby looking up at the big kids in total admiration.


"Okay, I know how this works now. Can I open mine?"


I tried to get a picture of the three bubble blowers but they questioned my motives.


They stayed on the step for about one second and went in three different directions.


Three kids working on three different problems.


Happy Birthday, D.

Hot Day

The temperature went up to the the 80s last week for one day. We had exactly 2 t-shirts and two pairs of shorts for the baby and that is usually plenty for the weather here. So when it was hot for 3 consecutive days, we had to improvise.

First we ran around naked for a while.


Then the only thing I could find to fit him belonged to the girl.


He was quite happy in it.


She wore this kimono that my parents got me when I was a kid. I never wore it. It's still brand new.


The kids had so much fun that day. After soaking in the tub for half an hour they ran around in their weird attire.

Actress in Training

I took this set of picture by calling out various emotion words like happy, scared, worried, sad, excited, and had the girl act out these words. I can't remember which face is which word anymore and I honestly can't even figure it out if I wanted to. So here they are, can you figure them out?

Costco Outing

We went to Costco after dance class one day and the girl was feeling exceptionally sociable and friendly.

Before the shopping began, the children needed to be fed. I put them in the shopping cart and sat down at a corner and fed them Costco chicken wrap. The two of them demanded food with such urgency that the people who shared a table with us must have thought these kids have not been fed in days.

After a little food and smoothies, the girl wanted to hug the baby and pose for pictures.


As you can see, he is not so sure about this picture taking thing. Looks like they were negotiating. "Let me hug and make me look good and I will let you join in some big kid games later."


This was the "best" picture I managed. The baby was just not cooperating.


The girl is starting to try and be a leader among her friends lately. She would start these random weird games and rope her friends into playing. Baby, of course, is desperate to join in. Sometimes, he is happy just watching. Occasionally, she lets him join in and he is in heaven. He is so proud of himself and will do anything to be on her good side. Here is the girl making two boys very happy by teaching them this silly game.

We Thought It Cannot Be Done

Is it possible for both the adults and the kids to have fun?



Hubby had some friends over to play some cards and one of his friends brought his kid. Sounded like a disaster in the making but amazingly, everyone played well together. The adults played cards and the kids played with... I don't know. They were happy passing things back and forth.



I almost felt left out that I had no one to play with. :-)

Sibling Rivalry

Here is a video of the dancing baby. He reminds me so much of those dancing Santas you see everywhere around Christmas time.


When angels are not so angelic. This is actually a pretty tame fight which is why I have the time to grab a camera and record it.

Who's hiding the clay??

Who's been hiding clay from me all my life? They are so much fun. I wanted to make terrariums with the kids for preschool and a friend emailed me this. Well, I had to have those gnomes and mushrooms. So I went out and bought a bucket of kiddie clay. I was going to go for Fimo but I have never really done any 3D figure making. The most I have done was to make fake dumplings with Playdough when I was a kid. So I figured I should start with the low tech stuff before diving into fancy pricey Fimo.

I invited a friend over to help with the gnome project. We have 5 students and since clay figures are pretty fragile, we made 7. Yep, just like the Dwarfs. They may not be as cute as the ones the other person made but I was pretty happy with them. I am going to name them Earth Man for an Earth Day themed lesson. I may make them all tiny watering cans if I feel super ambitious.



After I made these little guys, I was hooked. I thought I should be able to make something with a bit more details. So I searched the mighty internet and found this. Sounds pretty straight forward. I sat down after the kids went to nap and got working.


I love how vibrant the colours are.




Again, this little dude is not as fancy as the other one but I had so much fun! All I need now is a name for him. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, I will be hogging the kiddie clay from now on. Go back to playing with Playdough, kids. Mommy wants to play with the clay.

Mini vacation part 2

After dinner, we decided to spend some time in the hotel pool. According to the girl, this was the best part of the whole vacation.

The girl suits up for the pool. She was so excited she kept jumping up and down. Hubby thinks her earliest memories all involve the swimming pool. She loves the water.


"la... la... la... mommy hurry up!"


"Alright, I can't wait any longer. I am going to fly myself there."


Baby and the fish on his swim shirt has the same expression.


"She looks pretty excited about this swimming business. Exactly what is about to happen?"


"I suppose I can give this a try..."


Here a short video of baby's water debut.


All 3 of us in the water. It's hard to take good pictures in the pool with a point and shoot. Hubby was in the water with us too but he had to get out to take this picture. It's really hard to swim with two kids.


After such a long, action packed day. I thought the kids ought to sleep. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our pack and play and the hotel failed to provide a crib so we had to set up make shift beds for the kids. We set up a little nook for the baby between the two big beds. Being the good baby that he is, he fell asleep within minutes.


The girl got the side of the room. Being the crazy girl that she was, she couldn't fall asleep at all. She walked around and talked to herself for a long time before walking over and waking up the baby. She eventually climbed into Hubby's bed and tossed and turned well past midnight.


We went back to the pool the next day and went to a farmer's market. I still wanted to see downtown but the baby collapsed so we called it a day.


We did bring home some seriously good food from the farmer's market for dinner that night. This was our dessert.


So I'd say it was a good vacation and fun was had by all!